They say money can’t buy you happiness, but that doesn’t
stop movie studios from trying to make more and more of it. Maybe those execs
are doing all they can to research the idea, which is why they keep churning
out films like Self/Less, yet another
sci-fi/tech thriller in a string of many.

Ben Kingsley stars as Damian, a ruthless, wealthy New York
aristocrat/developer who is dying of cancer. Estranged from his idealistic daughter
Claire (Michelle Dockery), Damian refuses to accept his fate and employs the
services of Professor Albright (Matthew Goode), who runs a secret, high-tech
“shedding” operation that allows people to transfer their consciousness into
another host body; a body “grown” in a lab. Damian forks over millions and goes
through the transformation, ending up in a brand new, younger body (played by
Ryan Reynolds). The new Damian indulges in all the pleasures of being young and
attractive until he starts to experience flashbacks of a soldier’s life,
complete with a wife and daughter. Suspicious, “New” Damian researches some of
the images from the flashbacks, which draw him to a farm outside St. Louis.

>>>SPOILER ALERT<<<

When he gets to the farm, he discovers that the new body
wasn’t grown, but that it once belonged to a young father married to Madeline
(Natalie Martinez) with a daughter named Anna (Jaynee-Lynne Kinchen).
Coinciding with his arrival, a group of thugs try to capture him and kill off
the wife and daughter. The killers are working for Prof. Albright, who is
trying to keep the realities of his “shedding” operation secret, due to obvious
ethical and legal reasons. On the run and using the army training from the
younger man’s consciousness, New Damian protects his former family as he tries
to track down Albright and get answers.

Self/Less has a
few exciting moments and should prompt a little ethical reflection, but its
contrived science and predictable outcome render it mediocre, at best.

Ryan Reynolds does a fine job as an action hero, while
Kingsley and Goode give the movie a little gravitas, but not enough to avoid
boredom in between flashes of action and anticlimactic anticipation of the inevitable
conclusion.